Although it’s rare, once in a while neck pain may be a warning sign of cancer, infection, autoimmune disease, or some kind of structural problem like spinal cord injury or a threat to an important blood vessel. Some of these ominous situations cause hard-to-miss signs and symptoms other than pain and are likely to be diagnosed correctly and promptly — so, if it feels serious, go get checked out. Otherwise, if you are aware of the “red flags,” you can get checked out when the time is right — and avoid excessive worry until then.
I am 73 yr. young, and I in so much pain and discomfort . I have a double curve of the spine and due to a loss of 3 in. since becoming elderly the pain has gotten worse. I had went to a wonderful chiropractor for years but he is no longer. My husband still works and we have United HealthCare and they don’t cover chiropractors. IS there any good chiropractors that don’t charge a high price or don’t insist on xrays which are very expensive. I also have IBS and have had 3 major bowel surgeries which causes me extreme pain
There is a wide range of ways to measure treatment outcomes.[91] Chiropractic care, like all medical treatment, benefits from the placebo response.[92] It is difficult to construct a trustworthy placebo for clinical trials of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT), as experts often disagree about whether a proposed placebo actually has no effect.[93] The efficacy of maintenance care in chiropractic is unknown.[12]
Beyond Chiropractic, a health and wellness center on the border of Conshohocken and Plymouth Meeting, minutes from Norristown and Lafayette Hill. The mission of Beyond Chiropractic is to provide the members of the community with highly individualized, affordable health care to promote well-being in a comfortable environment for all patients. We aim to support our patients and their families to achieve and maintain the highest quality of life. www.ConshyChiro.com ... View Profile
Because the neck is so flexible and because it supports the head, it is extremely vulnerable to injury. Motor vehicle or diving accidents, contact sports, and falls may result in neck injury. The regular use of safety belts in motor vehicles can help to prevent or minimize neck injury. A "rear end" automobile collision may result in hyperextension, a backward motion of the neck beyond normal limits, or hyperflexion, a forward motion of the neck beyond normal limits. The most common neck injuries involve the soft tissues: the muscles and ligaments. Severe neck injuries with a fracture or dislocation of the neck may damage the spinal cord and cause paralysis.
Before I left, the office gave me a cold pack to use in case of any soreness. I didn’t have a need to use it, but everyone is different. “A cold pack can be a great tool to add to your wellness toolkit, since it can help control soreness, bruising and inflammation,” says Dr. Greg Doer, DC. Plus, it doesn’t just come in handy after a chiropractic adjustment. You can reuse it again and again.
D.D. Palmer opened the first chiropractic school two years later, and in the century since, chiropractic professionals have used spinal adjustments to help people prevent and cope with back pain, carpal tunnel, muscle strain, headaches and migraines, and a variety of other physical ailments. Millions of people benefit from the work of Dr. Palmer today.
Holism assumes that health is affected by everything in an individual's environment; some sources also include a spiritual or existential dimension.[34] In contrast, reductionism in chiropractic reduces causes and cures of health problems to a single factor, vertebral subluxation.[32] Homeostasis emphasizes the body's inherent self-healing abilities. Chiropractic's early notion of innate intelligence can be thought of as a metaphor for homeostasis.[30]
Some chiropractors oppose vaccination and water fluoridation, which are common public health practices.[32] Within the chiropractic community there are significant disagreements about vaccination, one of the most cost-effective public health interventions available.[221] Most chiropractic writings on vaccination focus on its negative aspects,[27] claiming that it is hazardous, ineffective, and unnecessary.[28] Some chiropractors have embraced vaccination, but a significant portion of the profession rejects it, as original chiropractic philosophy traces diseases to causes in the spine and states that vaccines interfere with healing.[28] The extent to which anti-vaccination views perpetuate the current chiropractic profession is uncertain.[27] The American Chiropractic Association and the International Chiropractors Association support individual exemptions to compulsory vaccination laws, and a 1995 survey of U.S. chiropractors found that about a third believed there was no scientific proof that immunization prevents disease.[28] The Canadian Chiropractic Association supports vaccination;[27] a survey in Alberta in 2002 found that 25% of chiropractors advised patients for, and 27% against, vaccinating themselves or their children.[222]
One of the reasons I wanted to visit the chiropractor was to take a more active role in my overall health and wellness. I specifically chose an integrated clinic, which offered not only chiropractic care, but also physical therapy, massage therapy and nutrition consultation. We discussed the addition of multi-vitamins, fish oil and vitamin D to my wellness plan. One thing I learned through this wellness planning? Everyone’s health journey is different! Since health is personal, your approach should be tailored to your specific needs. My focus on an integrated clinic may not be right for you, but I found value in being educated about all the options available to me.
Chiropractic has seen considerable controversy and criticism.[25][26] Although D.D. and B.J. were "straight" and disdained the use of instruments, some early chiropractors, whom B.J. scornfully called "mixers", advocated the use of instruments.[23] In 1910, B.J. changed course and endorsed X-rays as necessary for diagnosis; this resulted in a significant exodus from the Palmer School of the more conservative faculty and students.[23] The mixer camp grew until by 1924 B.J. estimated that only 3,000 of the U.S.'s 25,000 chiropractors remained straight.[23] That year, B.J.'s invention and promotion of the neurocalometer, a temperature-sensing device, was highly controversial among B.J.'s fellow straights. By the 1930s, chiropractic was the largest alternative healing profession in the U.S.[23]
Chronic neck pain is pain, stiffness, and soreness in the neck, perhaps with decreased mobility, that lasts more than several weeks. The traditional medical response to neck pain is to recommend pain relievers, but drugs simply mask the symptoms – and taking them for an indefinite period can do more harm than good. Treating chronic pain through traditional means (including pain management, injections, chiropractic manipulation, and surgery) is not likely to resolve the true source of the pain.
We achieve these results not with potent drugs or harmful muscle relaxers but with spinal decompression therapy that uses intermittent spinal traction to take stress off injured vertebral joints while concurrently hydrating your discs, Chiropractic Adjustments to facilitate proper motion in the joints, electrical stimulation to reduce muscular and nerve pain in localized areas and much more.
Jump up ^ Weeks, William B; Goertz, Christine M; Meeker, William C; Marchiori, Dennis M (2015-01-01). "Public Perceptions of Doctors of Chiropractic: Results of a National Survey and Examination of Variation According to Respondents' Likelihood to Use Chiropractic, Experience With Chiropractic, and Chiropractic Supply in Local Health Care Markets". Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 38 (8): 533–44. doi:10.1016/j.jmpt.2015.08.001. PMID 26362263.

Most people believe that chiropractors treat back pain. That is true, but there is so much more that chiropractic care can achieve. Because chiropractors help to remove pressure from the nervous system, they can also influence many other conditions. It is common to hear chiropractic patients say that they came in for back pain and their headaches got better.

A D.C. program includes classwork in anatomy, physiology, biology, and similar subjects. Chiropractic students also get supervised clinical experience in which they train in spinal assessment, adjustment techniques, and making diagnoses. D.C. programs also may include classwork in business management and in billing and finance. Most D.C. programs offer a dual-degree option, in which students may earn either a bachelor’s or a master’s degree in another field while completing their D.C.
One of the most common concerns about the neck that is not especially worrisome: signs of “wear and tear” on the cervical spine, arthritis, and degenerative disc disease, as revealed by x-ray, CT scans, and MRI. Many people who have clear signs of arthritic degeneration in their spines will never have any symptoms, or only minor, and/or not for a long time.10 For instance, about 50% of fortysomethings have clinically silent disk bulges, and even at age 20 there’s a surprising amount of spinal arthritis. The seriousness of these signs is routinely overestimated by patients and healthcare professionals alike.11
Straight chiropractors adhere to the philosophical principles set forth by D.D. and B.J. Palmer, and retain metaphysical definitions and vitalistic qualities.[37] Straight chiropractors believe that vertebral subluxation leads to interference with an "innate intelligence" exerted via the human nervous system and is a primary underlying risk factor for many diseases.[37] Straights view the medical diagnosis of patient complaints (which they consider to be the "secondary effects" of subluxations) to be unnecessary for chiropractic treatment.[37] Thus, straight chiropractors are concerned primarily with the detection and correction of vertebral subluxation via adjustment and do not "mix" other types of therapies into their practice style.[37] Their philosophy and explanations are metaphysical in nature and they prefer to use traditional chiropractic lexicon terminology (e.g., perform spinal analysis, detect subluxation, correct with adjustment).[22] They prefer to remain separate and distinct from mainstream health care.[22] Although considered the minority group, "they have been able to transform their status as purists and heirs of the lineage into influence dramatically out of proportion to their numbers."[22]
A 2010 study describing Belgium chiropractors and their patients found chiropractors in Belgium mostly focus on neuromusculoskeletal complaints in adult patients, with emphasis on the spine.[83] The diversified technique is the most often applied technique at 93%, followed by the Activator mechanical-assisted technique at 41%.[83] A 2009 study assessing chiropractic students giving or receiving spinal manipulations while attending a U.S. chiropractic college found Diversified, Gonstead, and upper cervical manipulations are frequently used methods.[84]
Hi Jacqueline — We are so sorry to hear about this. You can find a doctor here: https://paindoctor.com/get-relief-now/, or if there’s not one in your area in that directory, figure out how to find the best one in your area by using the suggestions in this list. Further, one of the worst parts about chronic pain is not having anyone around who truly understands what you face on a day-to-day basis. We highly recommend finding a local or online support group so you can talk to other patients who understand what a life with chronic pain is like. You can find online ones here: https://paindoctor.com/chronic-pain-support-groups.
^ Jump up to: a b Joseph C. Keating, Jr., Cleveland CS III, Menke M (2005). "Chiropractic history: a primer" (PDF). Association for the History of Chiropractic. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 2008-06-16. A significant and continuing barrier to scientific progress within chiropractic are the anti-scientific and pseudo-scientific ideas (Keating 1997b) which have sustained the profession throughout a century of intense struggle with political medicine. Chiropractors' tendency to assert the meaningfulness of various theories and methods as a counterpoint to allopathic charges of quackery has created a defensiveness which can make critical examination of chiropractic concepts difficult (Keating and Mootz 1989). One example of this conundrum is the continuing controversy about the presumptive target of DCs' adjustive interventions: subluxation (Gatterman 1995; Leach 1994).
The chiropractic oath is a modern variation of the classical Hippocratic Oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice their professions ethically.[190] The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has an ethical code "based upon the acknowledgement that the social contract dictates the profession's responsibilities to the patient, the public, and the profession; and upholds the fundamental principle that the paramount purpose of the chiropractic doctor's professional services shall be to benefit the patient."[191] The International Chiropractor's Association (ICA) also has a set of professional canons.[192]
Holism assumes that health is affected by everything in an individual's environment; some sources also include a spiritual or existential dimension.[34] In contrast, reductionism in chiropractic reduces causes and cures of health problems to a single factor, vertebral subluxation.[32] Homeostasis emphasizes the body's inherent self-healing abilities. Chiropractic's early notion of innate intelligence can be thought of as a metaphor for homeostasis.[30]
If your chiropractor does recommend an X-ray, one piece of advice: wear proper clothing! I made the mistake of wearing jeans to the appointment. And that meant had to change into some not-so-attractive disposable medical shorts… NOT a good look. I would recommend wearing loose-fitting clothing you can move in (that helps for the movement assessment too!) and nix the jewelry. I was smarter for my second appointment and wore my workout gear, so the medical shorts didn’t have to make a second appearance.